Being Free to Run Part 3: Duhok
“I consider Free to Run as a friend to me” - Smiya
August 2022 marked the eighth anniversary of the Yazidi Genocide perpetrated in Iraq by ISIS, a period in which thousands perished in this act of ethnic and religious cleansing and has resulted in over 2,760 Yazidi women and girls still missing following reported abductions, sex trafficking and enslavement (USCIRF, 2022). This great act of violence resulted in 360,000 Yazidi Genocide survivors being displaced from their home and forced to seek refuge in camps throughout Iraq and Syria (USCIRF, 2022). As a result, Sharya Camp in Duhok was formed, for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in October 2014.
This summer, Free to Run launched a pilot program with a Yazidi community in Duhok, in both the host community and from Shariya Camp.The camp, which is home to 2468 families, has a female population of 6691 females, with 2764 being under the age of 18. Since June, 41 girls, all of whom are under 18, have joined the program and have started running and hiking.
As the girls arrive to meet our incredible project officer Shireen in Shariya Camp for the session, they are greeted with four large red letters ‘H O P E’. Through working with the Springs of Hope foundation, we run with the girls in the Hope Centre, which has its very own 1km running track. The track, which has no shade, takes a real toughness from the girls to run with no escape from Iraq’s high summer temperatures. However, day after day, more and more young girls from the camp and Shariya’s surrounding area continue to join and run.
It’s too simple to say the girls ‘join and run’, because the loops the girls make around the Hope Center, is more than just a movement of propelling oneself forward on foot, as the stories reveal, being free to run means so much more:
“I learned how to set my goals, make informed decisions and be a leader. We all know and understand our situation, and this makes us motivated to participate. Whenever I participate in Free to Run activities, we feel relieved psychologically and physically. For this reason I consider free to Run as a friend to me. It means a lot to be one of the Free to Run participants, because before Free to Run, running outside and away from camp or my home was something I would not able to achieve it alone” — Smiya
“Being Free to Run was one of the great[est] opportunities that has ever happened to me. Since we were not allowed to participate in sports activities before due to certain reasons, our society would not allow us to participate and because the activities were only for boys. But Free to Run opened this opportunity for girls and led my family to allow me to participate. The activities of Free to Run helped me to find friends, be able to know how to deal with them, and try to solve my problems by myself and being a leader. It made me feel proud and happy that I became a part of this program.’’ — Hindreen
“I made very good friends. Getting out of home made me feel relaxed and we had a lot of fun during the sports activities for two months. The trainers were very supportive and friendly with us. They encouraged us to go to school and be successful. More importantly I have learned that participating in such activities will help to improve the visibility of women in public spaces.’’ - Soleen
For many of the girls on the program, convincing their parents that running is a good idea, can be a challenge, and a conversation that resurfaces often. Challenges and conversations that are not unique to our work in Duhok, in our final installment of Being Free to Run, a number of our participants from Baharka Camp and Harsham Camp, share how they challenged their parents’ perception of running and then went on to convince fellow families in their community.
Please help support more girls from Shariya Camp be part of this movement. Ideally, we would reach the entire young female population, so that they too can know that running and leadership is not just something for their brothers and male friends. Even the smallest donation can have a huge impact.